The Lost Heroine
by fandomfetish
Summary: Percy wakes up one morning to find that Annabeth is missing. Then, three odd demi-gods appear at camp, much over the age of the 12. Of course, Percy has to search for his girlfriend, and this is his adventure. Put simply, opposite of TLH.
1. The Strange Disappearance

Percy woke up and got dressed. He had a feeling something was wrong, but he didn't take that feeling too seriously. Something was usually wrong anyway, it's not like today would be any different. He threw a jacket over his shoulder as he walked out the door because, even though it didn't snow in Camp Half-Blood, it was still winter. He walked to the dining pavilion and immediately surrounded by people. They were all asking what seemed to be the same question, but he couldn't exactly make out the words because they were all shouting. Glancing down at them, he realized that most of them were Athena campers.

"Hey!" he yelled, making them all go silent. He pointed at Malcolm and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Do you know where Annabeth is? She wasn't in her bed when we woke up. We've searched the entire camp for he-"

"You can't find Annabeth?" Percy asked urgently. Malcolm paused and looked cautiously up at Percy. A cold feeling washed over Percy as Malcolm said those next words.

"You mean she wasn't with you?" Percy didn't even bother to answer as he turned and sprinted out of the pavilion, knocking down all of the campers in his way. He ran to the sea and down the shore and back again. He ran to the Athena cabin and went in without knocking, already knowing that she wouldn't be in there, her siblings would have already checked. He checked the sparing arena as he checked his head for where she could be. Annabeth wouldn't leave camp without telling Percy where she was going. Did she tell him? He ran through what happened last night in his mind.

_"Tomorrow, your butt is going so far into the ground during sparing, you're going to be having dinner with Hades," Annabeth laughed, throwing her head back with a laugh. They were walking back to their cabins after dinner, about to go to bed._

_"You wish you could beat this," Percy said, flexing his muscles jokingly._

_"Oh I know I can. How many times have I only since we've been here for Christmas break?"_

_"Five," he muttered._

_"What's that?" she asked innocently._

_"Five but that's just because-"_

_"Nope. No excuses, Seaweed Brain. You should be pummeling me, you're invincible for gods sake."_

_"You're just so…distracting."_

_"Distracting how?" she said, turning around as they reached her cabin._

_"Because you're so…you." Percy tried to get out._

_"Aww, honey," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Flattery will get you nowhere." Annabeth turned, flouncing off to her cabin. He grabbed her wrist and spun her around. _

_"Not so fast." He put his lips to hers briefly and pulled away with a smile on his face. "Goodnight, _honey."

_She rolled her eyes, unable to hide her smile, and turned back around. "'Night, _darling."

Percy wasn't really fantastic at sorting through hidden messages, but he was ninety-seven percent sure she had put none into her goodnight rant last night. Okay, maybe eighty-four percent sure. So she had to still be in camp. Maybe she's with Chiron, Percy thought, mentally slapping himself in the head. Why didn't he check there first, she does this a lot. Still, relieved as he might be, he jogged to the Big House in search of his girlfriend. Not even bothering to knock, he burst into the room where Chiron would usually be doing…something. Percy never really knew what that horse did in his spare time. He was almost plowed over by the wheelchair on it's way out from the room he was about to enter.

"Percy!" Chiron said, sounding shocked. "To what do I deserve the pleasu-"

"Do you know where Annabeth is?" Percy said, interrupting him.

"Why I- no, Percy. I don't," Chiron said concernedly.

"Do you have any idea where she could be?" Percy asked, starting to really panic now.

"No, no I don't. Why, can you not find her?"

"Malcolm said she wasn't in her bed and she's nowhere around camp and-" Percy started to hyperventilate. Now this may sound really _really_ lame but this was Annabeth. Annabeth wasn't anywhere.

"Well, Percy, what if she's-"

"Maybe she's at Thalia's tree!" he sprinted out of the cabin and up the hill before Chiron could stop him. Even before he got to the tree, he knew she wasn't there. He slid down the trunk and lay at the base of the big pine. She wouldn't just leave camp. She wouldn't. Where could she _possibly _be. Even if she left camp, where would she go? Maybe my place, or her school. Percy sighed, sitting up. Feeble attempts maybe, but it was a start. He got up and started walking to his cabin. He had to contain himself, if the other campers saw him as a nervous wreck, they would all be a nervous wreck, even if they didn't know why he was so shaken. Percy had always been humble, he wasn't blind. He noticed the impact he had on all of the campers, especially the new ones. The returners tell the stories of his "adventures" all the time around the campfire. The newbies look up to him like some sort of god. I guess, he thought, I could have been a god if I wanted to be. But that's beside the point. He walked through the maze of cabins toward his own, getting stopped my numerous people.

"Did you find her?"

"What's going on?"

"Why is everyone so upset?"

"Guys, I'll explain everything later, just let me get through," he said.

"But, Percy-"

"Wait, what-"

"Prissy!"

At that familiar voice he turned around and found himself face to face with the daughter of Ares.

"Yes, Clarisse?" he said.

"What is going on?" Clarisse asked. "I heard from Will Solace that Annabeth is gone and half the camp is running around and- what is going on?"

"I don't know," he said honestly.

"Is Annabeth gone?" she asked. He just looked at her. When he didn't answer, she repeated, "Is Annabeth gone?" If Percy didn't know her so well, he wouldn't have caught the slight desperation and anxiety in her voice.

"I'm-I'm not sure," he answered, voice cracking as he turned his head and body back towards his own cabin. "I have to- I need to-I just have to go do something."

"But-"

He kept walking. Past the questions, past the interrogations, into the safety of his home. He went to the desk next to his table and pulled out a gold coin. He took out a water bottle, opening it, and tossing the water into the air. With his mind, he was able to make a sort of mist with it. "Please," he whispered along with the prayer to the goddess Iris as he tossed the drachma into the spray. "Sally Jackson," he said out loud and was granted with a vision of his mom. "Mom?" The woman standing on the other side of the wall of water turned to face him and a smile played across her face.

"Yes, Percy?" He took a deep breath and got right to the point.

"Is Annabeth there?" Percy couldn't imagine why his girlfriend would need to go back to his apartment all the way in New York but he hoped and hoped and-

"Annabeth? Why would Annabeth be here, I thought she was at camp with you," Sally's smile faded as she gazed with concern at her son. "What's wrong, Percy?" And with those words, he broke.

"She's-she's gone. I can't find her. I don't know where she is, and she would tell me where she is, unless _she _doesn't know where she is then she got kidnapped and that's bad. Oh no, this is so bad, She's not here, she's not anywhere, I can't find her, I can't find her, I can't find-"

"Percy, calm down, obviously she has to be somewhere, don't worry. We'll find her. Have you asked Chiron if he knows? Maybe he sent her on some quest or something…"

"No, he didn't even know she was gone, but she is, oh gods," Percy sat down on the ground and stared at his shoes. "I-I need to find her she's somewhere, right, Mom?"

Sally smiled a sad little smile as she said, "Yes, she's somewhere. Go find her, check back with me when you can. I'll let you know if she turns up."

He knew she wanted to talk more, but at this point, he was sad to say, he didn't care. "She's somewhere. Im going to find her. Okay Ill find her. Bye, Mom," Percy said, shutting of the Iris message.

Where else? Where else? School? It's a longshot but it's better than nothing. He got off the floor and ran to the Athena cabin. There was no one in there; they were probably all looking for their sibling. Percy ran to Annabeth's bunk and reached for the phone that was on her dresser. He steered clear of the bed that contained Daedalus's laptop and a bunch of notes for Olympus because, even though she was gone, if he touched her architecture stuff she would full out murder him, Curse or not. He scrolled through her contacts and landed on the name Lauren. Percy pressed the call button and put the phone to his ear. Right now, he didn't care about the monsters that were probably making a beeline for camp, he could take down Kronos all over again in order to find Annabeth.

After three rings, there was a "Hello?" from the other side of the line and Percy pounced. "Lauren? Lauren. Are you still at school?"

"Um, you don't sound like Annabeth," the girl said matter-of-factly.

"No, of course not, this is Percy. Lauren, are you still at school?"

"Oh, hey, Percy! How are you doing?"

"LAUREN could you please just answer the damn question."

"Fine, fine, jeesh, pushy. Yeah, I thought you knew that, my parents are too lazy to fly me back to their place for the holidays," Lauren said breezily. Percy could picture her doing her nails in her dorm room at this exact moment.

"So, you're in your room right now?" Percy said, picking up Annabeth's New York Yankees cap from the hook next to her bunk. Well, guess she's not hiding.

"Yes, I am, Mr. Pushy."

"And you're alone?"

"Yes, I am." Percy's brain fuzzed over. Even if Annabeth was at school, she rarely left her and Lauren's room. If she wasn't there with her roommate, she wasn't there at all. There was a pause. "Why?"

"No reason, thanks."

"But-" He hung up and threw the phone on the bed in frustration.

"No luck?" Percy jumped and turned around, his pen already in his hand. A familiar-looking little girl of about 10 stood in the doorway. After a second, he realized this was one of Annabeth's sisters. She was one of the smaller ones; she looked like she was about 6 years old. He couldn't remember her name, but he was sure that they were related.

Putting his weapon back in his pocket, he walked toward her. "Nope,"

"Oh," she almost whispered, not moving. They just stood there for about a second before Percy made to get around her, and she said, "You should probably tell everyone what's going on, we almost had a riot."

"A riot?"

"Pretty much. Travis and Connor started handing out flaming torches."

"I swear to all the gods, those sons of Hermes are going to get it-"

"Where's my sister?"

Percy glanced at the girl and quickly made to get around her again. This time, the girl stepped in front of him so he couldn't get out. She stood defiantly in front of him her bottom lip trembling. "Do you know where she is? Do you know if she's okay?"

He looked at her big, grey eyes, so much like Annabeth's. He almost broke again, just like he did in his own cabin. Almost. Kneeling down, he made sure he was level with those intelligent orbs as he said a single word that almost broke him. "No."


	2. Helpful Connections

_He looked at her big, grey eyes, so much like Annabeth's. He almost broke again, just like he did in his own cabin. Almost. Kneeling down, he made sure he was level with those intelligent orbs as he said a single word that almost broke him. "No."_

* * *

Tears erupted from the girl's eyes and she launched herself into Percy's arms, water streaming down her rosy cheeks. "It's okay, she's going to be okay." The girl kept crying and hugged tighter onto Percy. He could hear, now, what riot the girl was talking about. Figuring he needed to stop it, he tried to extract himself from the girl and walk toward the noise but she clung to him. Sighing, he swooped the girl into his arms and carried her on his hip toward the sound. When they reached the center of the cluster of cabins, he saw that almost every camper that stayed over winter break was in a crowd, trying to get answers from who knows what.

When one of the Demeter kids saw Percy, he rushed over to him and asked, "What on earth is going on, Jackson? Malcolm said something happened, but no one wants to tell us what, Clarisse is threatening everyone with much harsher threats than usual and-"

"George. Calm. Breaths. Hee-hoo, hee-hoo." Some kids had noticed George's absence and followed him, circling Percy while bombarding him with questions. Taking a deep breath, Percy pushed through the crowd toward a box that Travis must have been standing on in order to hand out the torches half the campers were carrying. With the girl still sniffling into his shirt, he climbed the box and yelled, "QUIET!"

The crowd went deathly silent, all staring intently up at him. "Okay, so, first off, Connor, get all the torches together and back in the weapons shed, _now._ We don't need those things floating around for no reason. Next, where is Malcolm?" Said boy was pushed to the front of the crowd and Percy leaned down to talk with him. "Malcolm. You haven't found her have you?"

"No, we've all been looking for her. If she's in camp, she either has her invisibility cap on or she's an insanely good hider. I sent Carla to find you and I guess she did," said he said, gesturing to the girl dangling from Percy's body.

"She doesn't have her cap on, I saw it in her cabin. And she wouldn't hide for this long when everyone's looking for her." Percy sighed, rubbing his eyes to try and fend off the tears that would inevitably come. People were counting on him not to panic. "Malcolm, I think she's been kidnapped."

"Kidnapped? By who? The only people who can get into Camp Half-Blood are us and the gods…" he paused. "Do you think one of the gods could have done it?"

"I don't know, I haven't thought that far ahead."

Despite the circumstances, Malcolm chuckled a little bit. "Of course you haven't, Perce."

"Do you think we should send out search parties?" Malcolm's face turned serious again.

"Maybe. I mean, nothing like this has ever happened before, right? People don't just disappear from their beds. This isn't Scary Movie 5," he said.

"We should ask Chiron, maybe even talk to Rachel," Percy trailed off, mentally slapping himself. "I didn't even bother to ask Rachel, what if their like doing girl stuff." He knew this was a far-fetched idea but a guy could hope, right?

Malcolm shook his head. "Don't worry, I already had someone contact her, she's on her way down now. Today was her last day of school anyway, she was going to spend Christmas with us." The crowd around them was starting to get louder again, so Percy thought it might be a swell time to corral them.

"Okay, that's good. Okay. Thanks, Malcolm, tell me when you know anything. And I mean anything," he said, pinching his nose as he rose again. Malcolm nodded and turned away to talk to some other half-blood. "Alright, so here's what's going on," Percy said, straightening up to full height to make sure Carla didn't fall. She was still buried in his shoulder. Despite the noise, she had fallen asleep. "It seems to look like Annabeth has gone missing." His voice cracked at her name and he mentally shook it off. Five more minutes until you can freak out. Just five more.

There were some mutterings throughout the crowd as people took in the news. "But," Percy continued, "that doesn't concern all of you. While you're all running around creating havoc, it's hard to figure out if she's alright or not. So would you all please just go back to your scheduled activities. Um, cabin leaders, make sure everyone stays on schedule." When no one moved, he said, with more force, "Off you go. Now. Please." They all heeded his hasty tones, not wanted to get pummeled if they didn't listen to him. As they walked off in different directions, Percy shouted, "Athena cabin! Stay put please." Percy climbed back down from the crate and turned back to Malcolm. "Start arranging search parties and then ask Chiron for permission. I have to go do something.

Percy walked off in what he hoped was a calm way towards the Athena cabin and set his little bundle on her bed, making sure to cover her with a blanket. Then he sprinted toward the sea, jumping off the dock and into the ocean. He swam to the bottom of the sea and screamed at the top of his lungs. Fish scattered at the sound, but he kept screaming until he was sobbing into his own arms. He kept screaming and screaming and screaming. This couldn't be happening. After all they had been through, after all they had done for the world, it had just messed with them all over again. He needed to pull himself together so he could find her, but he allowed himself a few more minutes of screaming and sobbing before he emerged from the water, fully-composed. He couldn't allow himself to be weak or vulnerable. He had to find her, and soon. The longer they waited, the more of a chance they would never find her. That's what they said on those cop shows right? So he needed to get moving.

Percy began to walk to the Big House to talk to Chiron again. He assumed Malcolm would already be there, considering that's where Percy himself had told him to go next. He was right. Chiron and the Athena cabin were standing on the porch, and it looked like they were having a shouting match.

"-but, sir, she's missing we have to send people out there to find her!"

"I know that, Sara. However, we can't just send people willy-nilly out into the open. There has to be order.

"Sir-"

"This is a final order, Gina. No campers will be sent to find her. I'm sorry, but I won't change my mind."

"Chiron!" Percy bellowed, all manners lost. Flinching, the centaur turned his wheelchair around.

"Yes, Percy?"

"What," he said, trying his hardest to contain his anger, "do you mean we aren't going to look for her?"

"I did not say we won't look for her. Of course, we are going to try and find Annabeth, but I will not send campers out on quests so soon after the war," Chiron said, firmly.

"Then who will look for her?"

"The satyrs, you can contact Grover to ask, I'm sure he will allow it. We can ask the harpies to be so kind."

"Sir," Percy said through clenched teeth. "Do you really expect _me_ of all people to just sit here and wait for her to just…_turn up?_"

"Why," Chiron said, flicking his eyes between the other campers and Percy himself. "Honestly, no. I would expect you to tear through Olympus and Tartarus to find her, Percy."

Normally, Percy might be abashed by this information. But there was no time for embarrassment, so he just responded, "That means I'm allowed to leave camp?" Chiron was about to answer, but Percy interrupted him again. "You know I'll just leave anyway, right?"

"I supposed so. Yes, I give you permission to go, but any others who leave will be given very, _very_ strict punishments. Is that clear?" Chiron looked around the group with surprising vigor. There were murmured agreements pushed unwillingly throughout the crowd. "Okay, good. Now everyone go back to your activities, please, Percy and I will arrange the necessary search parties." The Athena campers trudged off quite unwillingly.

"Chiron-"

"I can't lose any more campers, Percy. I can't. Annabeth was the last-" the centaur took a shaky breath and rubbed his eyes. Percy was stunned. Chiron, who had always been such a strong leader, was breaking. Breaking because of one camper.

"Okay, I get that but if we don't try looking for her…"

"yes, of course we will try. Do me a favor, Percy. Contact Grover and ask him to search for her. Along with the, ah, Hunters of Artemis. I'm sure both he and Thalia would be more than willing to search for Annabeth." And with that, he turned and wheeled himself back into the Big House. Percy resolved himself and went to his own cabin once more to make the call. Repeating the same steps he had that very morning, he prayed to the goddess Iris and said Grover's name. The satyr popped into Percy's vision and he bleated.

"Percy! Good to see you man! How's camp?" asked Grover over the loud noise of what Percy assumed must have been a bulldozer. Sure enough, a giant, yellow machine appeared behind his best friend a few seconds later.

"Good, camp's good. Hey, Grover? Where…where are you, exactly?"

"Oh, I'm at a protest for cutting down an old oak. Got to stand with the mortals on some things right?" He turned around and yelled something that sounded suspiciously like "you can't just run us down, mass-pole."

"Oh-kay…um, buddy, there's something really important I need to tell you," Percy said as Grover turned back around.

"Uh, alright, shoot," he said, looking a bit concerned.

Percy took a deep breath and said, "Annabeth's missing."

Grover stared at Percy for a long, few seconds and then started laughing nervously. "Ha ha, very funny, Perce. She's hiding behind you somewhere, isn't she. Hey, Annabeth! Come out now, games up." Percy looked at Grover, unmoving, unsmiling. A few uneventful seconds passed by. The tiny smirk that the satyr had had on vanished as he started to panic. "What do you mean she's missing? Missing like you were on a mission and she got captured or missing like missing? Where is she?"

"That's the thing, we don't know," Percy said, maintaining his calm demeanor. He figured he was going to have to have this conversation a lot and he better get used to this kind of reaction. "And that's where you come in."

"Me? You think _I_ know where she is? Why would I, of all people-"

"No, man, listen to me. I need you to gather up all the man-power, or, I guess, goat-power you can get and send out search parties for her. Chiron's not letting us send any out for her so I need your help." He must have noticed the amount of strain in Percy's voice because immediately Grover agreed.

"Sure, anything, of course. I'll contact all of them now. Where do you think we should start?"

"I think moving Eastward on is the best bet we're going to have…but we have to do this fast. So, please, contact them _now._"

"Sir, yes, sir," Grover said, probably trying to ease the tension. Unsuccessfully, too. Percy made to shut off the message to contact Thalia before Grover said, "Hey, Perce?"

The son of Poseidon looked up and said, "Yeah?"

"She'll get out of this. We always do, right?"

Percy took a shuddered breath. "Right." And with that, he swiped his hand through the air, terminating the message.


End file.
